The 33-year-old who worked for Hockey Canada — he was part of the gold-medal winning 2010 women’s hockey team — among other positions in the Stampede City before leaving to work for the Kings, van Asten joined the Flames this week, replacing Rich Hesketh, who worked for the Flames for 19 years.

We’ll ask him about “home” beating the Southern California sunshine come November, December and January. But for now, van Asten is looking forward to his new chapter, having a hand in helping the rebuilding Flames return to glory.

“Working in a Canadian market for a Canadian team is almost a dream come true,” said van Asten, whose first order of business will be to work the troops during the summer prospects camp, which begins Friday and runs through Wednesday at WinSport at Canada Olympic Park.

Every team in the NHL puts massive focus on fitness, but the Flames earned accolades around the league for their work ethic last season under head coach Bob Hartley. The level of expectations will be even higher next season.

“It’s a good situation for me,” van Asten said. “Just from experience in L.A., Calgary was a hard team to play against. And it’s only going to get better.”

A defenceman whose hockey career peaked when he spent four years playing at Queens University, where he earned a physical and health education degree, van Asten earned a masters degree in neuromuscular physiology at the University of Calgary.

Admittedly succeeding with hard work more than talent, van Asten worked in the Toronto area training the likes of Jason Spezza, David Clarkson and Steve Montador.

Now, his job is to help the Flames emulate the Kings, although van Asten pointed out he’s uncertain what — if anything — he’ll need to change from the workout plans Hesketh has provided for the team’s players.

“Right now, it’s a feeling out process” van Asten said. “My philosophy is a movement-based approach, cleaning up any types of deficiencies players have in terms of their movement patterns. Then, building from there.”

That means speed comes from teaching them how to move more efficiently.

“That will allow them to transfer the power they have onto the ice,” van Asten said. “On the ice, they can skate faster. On the ground, they can run faster. It’s a gradual process throughout the off-season and throughout their career. It takes time because it can be highly technical.”

As much as van Asten has to get up to speed in his new post, he has another big item on the to-do list.

His day with the Stanley Cup is scheduled in mid-August.

“It’s really amazing to see how people react to it,” said van Asten, who put on Twitter a fantastic photo of himself hoisting the Cup after the Kings victory. “If you come back to Canada, it’s the Holy Grail. Everyone is mesmerized by this trophy, and for people to see it in real life and to be able to touch it and look at it, it’s unbelievable how a piece of silver can affect people. It’s just amazing.”

The 33-year-old who worked for Hockey Canada — he was part of the gold-medal winning 2010 women’s hockey team — among other positions in the Stampede City before leaving to work for the Kings, van Asten joined the Flames this week, replacing Rich Hesketh, who worked for the Flames for 19 years.

We’ll ask him about “home” beating the Southern California sunshine come November, December and January. But for now, van Asten is looking forward to his new chapter, having a hand in helping the rebuilding Flames return to glory.